Drop board for drop presses



May l5, 1923.

DROP BOARD FOR DROP PRESSES Filed March 3l. 1922 n QP Patented May l5, 1923.

ASSAZU UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE,

BYRON ALLEN, OF SOUTHINGTON, CONNECTICUT.

DROP BOARD Fon DROP PRESSES.

Application led March 31, 1922. Serial No, 543,551.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I. BYnoN ALLEN, a citizen of the United Statesl` residing at Southington, in the county of I Iart'ford and State of Connecticut, have invented a nevv and useful Improvement in Drop Boards for Drop Presses; and l do hereby declare the following, when talren in connection with the accompanying drawings and the characters ot' reference marked thereon, to be a full,.clear, and exact description oi" the same, and which said drawings constitute part of this application, and represent, in-

Fig. l a vie'w in elevation of a simple form ofdrop-press. Y

F ig. 2 a broken perspective view of a discarded dropboard such as is used in racticin my invention, the composite rop-4 boar units, into which it is to be cut, with their tongues and grooves, being indicated by broken lines.

Fig. 3 a broken perspective view showing two of the composite drop-board units.

Fig. 4 a brolren perspective view, showing one of the finished composite drop-boards Heretofore it has been found, by long experience, that rock maple boards, cut from specimen trees grown in the open, are, on account of their particular physical characteristics, peculiarly adapted for use in drop-presses. Up to this time, no satisfactory substitute for boards cut from rockmaple trees grown in the open, has been found. The supply of such rockmaple boards from trees grown in the open is rapidly diminishing and hence each board is utilized to the limit before being discarded. Thus, the upper end-portion of the board, which is the ortion thereof exposed to the gripping action of the lifting-rolls of the press, becomes, in use, so condensed that the liftin #rolls fail to grip and lift it. The board is then reversed, end for end, in the press, whereupon what was its lower or hammer-carrying end becomes its upper or grippingr end. When this end of the board has been so condensed that the hoard fails to function, the board is utilized in the same way in a smaller press,and so on, until it has heen so compressed that it is not available lor use in the smallest droppresscs The hoard is then discarded, notwithstanding the tact that on account of the condensation ol its fibers in use. it is. when discarded` stronger and better adapted For the illustration of my invention, l'V

have shown a simple form of drop-press having :l drop-board 5 provided at its lweri end with' a hammer 6 and having'itsup Ker-` end passed between two lifting-rolls 7 a of which the latter is laterally movable toward and away from the board, by means of an eccentric bearing 9 operated by an arm l0 connected by a long link l1 with an operating-lever 12 having a hand-grip 13. When the lever l2 is depressed, the board 5 is pinched between the liftingrolls 7 and 8, which grip it and lift it; then, after the board 5, and hence the hammer (i, have been lifted to the necessary height, the lever l2 is lifted for releasing the board, permitting it and the hammer to drop. In other forms of presses, one or both of the rolls are operated so as to automatically grip the boa-rd and release it. Drop-presses of the character described are so well known in the art as to need no further illustration or description.

O11 account of the severe compression of the boards required for pinching them suficiently to secure the grip necessary for lifting the hammers, the boards are co'ndensed and so much reduced in thickness that after a timel the lifting-rolls fail to grip and lift them. Any given board, so condensed :1t one end, is reversed, end for end, and so used until its then upper end has been so conA densed and thinned that it is no longer gripped by the rolls of the same press The board is then shifted to a snialier drop-press. and so on, until it is so condensed throu hout its length that it cnn no longer he useas a drop-press board. Heretofore, :it this stage, the board been liscarderl, although, at this time, on account of having been condensed. the board is actually stronger and better adapted for resisting the racking strains and of :1, drop-press than when it was first put in use My invention consists in longitudinally slitting these discarded boards into .strips` or, as I mayrsay, composite drop-board units, and assembling the same with their condensed faces in abutment. Thus, the board shown by Fig. 2 is slit to form two intermediate-units 14 and end-unit 15, as show.)

more clearly in Figs. fl and 1t, the intermediate-nnits 14- being differentiated from thi end-units 15 in havingr both of their outer or compressed faces formed with tongues and grooves 1G and 17, while the latter has` only one face so tongued and grooved, Such units are secured together by glue or cement, as shown in Fig, 4. By preference, theupper and lower ends of the units are united by transverse bolts 18`r as sl'lown.

It-will be understood, of course. that in theproduction of one of my improved composi-te drop-press boards, more than one di.:- carded board will he required to produce a drop-board of the original dimensions of tho` dis'carded boards utilized in producing the newiboardoalthough. of course. a large disY carded board might be utilized in making n 25 *single Small board in accordance with my imention. .\s a general thing, two discarded boards would be required forfproducing one of my improved boards.` It will be 0b'- servwl that the abutting faces of the units ol' my improved board are the condensed l'mcs of the originalboards.

l am thus enabled`r by means of my invvniion. not only to effect a great economy in re-using the material in discarded boards, but lo produce superior boards, inasmuch as the mitm-inl in them has been pre-hardened by use.

l claim:

.\ composite drop-board for drop-presses.

vonsisring of a plurality of pre-hardened .strips or units having their `condensed or hardened faces ahutted and secured together. u testimony whereof, I have signed this siwcnftion in the presence of two `subscribing witnesses.

BYRON ALLEN.

Vitnesscs Gnomiz DUDLEY SEYMOUR, MALCoLM P. NICHOLS. 

